by: Kyle Alexander
Posted: / Updated:
WKBN
(WKBN) – Lots of people travel for the holiday season. Many see their family or take a nice vacation.
But how does that compare to other holidays celebrated in America? What are the busiest holidays for travel throughout the year?
According to the Vacationer, over 122 million Americans are expected to travel for the holidays this year.
That prediction is more than double the amount of travelers from Thanksgiving, and nearly triple the amount of travelers from July Fourth.
Travel expert Laura Ratliff from TripSavvy said these numbers are nearing totals from before the pandemic.
“People just prioritize their holidays,” Ratliff said. “Especially when people maybe are traveling further and maybe have to pick and choose because of time off work or expenses, purchasing flights.”
Ratliff said cars are the primary mode of transportation for the holidays. However, with gas prices rising, that may change this year.
“You might see some people who maybe would’ve opted to drive in years past maybe are going to find a great flight deal and cut some time off of their trip, too,” she said.
Like other COVID-19 variants, omicron is affecting travel once again. This may not only affect holiday travel, but travel for 2022.
“Variants did pull back travel for a time, so I think it’s just a matter of what we learn more about omicron,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff thinks travel will pick up even more once more discoveries are made on the variant.
“Like anything in the past two years, it’s kind of like take everything with a grain of salt and expect to change at any given moment,” she said.
